He slammed her back onto the bed, still wearing her tank top and pants, her boots still on her feet.

"I'm just thankful you weren't my True Mate, Alice. Can you imagine how poor Fin must have felt to find out. Especially the way he did, with you stinking of Cole and Kade. Even I felt bad for the man. Fuck, I couldn't blame him for punching you in the face. I would have too."

Alice could hardly breath. Tears were streaming out of the corners of her eyes.

Lane grabbed her chin hard and yanked her head to the left, revealing Fin's mark, before his hand slid down to her throat, pushing her head back hard, so that she was staring up at the headboard as she struggled to breath.

"Such a pretty, little mark. I wonder if he has any idea what's about to happen."

Alice didn't reply, just lay still, forcing the air in and out of her lungs.

The pain of his teeth slicing through the delicate skin of her neck, and the silvery scar tissue of Fin's mark, was like no physical pain that she had ever felt before. Alice arched her back, trying to free herself from Alpha Cadman's iron grip, but he didn't let go, instead driving his teeth deeper into the muscle of her neck, as if that would ensure that the mark wouldn't go anywhere. But while the physical pain was bad, the emotional pain was far beyond anything that Alice could have imagined.

Before she wouldn't have even thought to describe what the mate bond that had formed between Fin and herself was like.

It simply was.

It had begun to take shape the very moment their eyes had met. It had grown stronger when they had both decided to accept one another. Once they were both marked and then, finally, mated it had felt as though the process was complete.

They were still two separate people walking around in their own bodies, but their souls had been knitted or fused or somehow joined together in a way that Alice hadn't imagined could possibly be torn apart. Until Alpha Cadman has sliced his razor sharp teeth through her neck and just like that, it had been.

If he hadn't been on top of her, straddling her waist, his hand pinning her neck to the bed as blood ran down into her hair, Alice would have curled up into a ball. Any fight she'd had in her before was gone now, bleeding out on the sheets as the wound to her neck didn't close up the way that it should have if it had been a regular mark from a joyfully accepted mate.

He's done it, a small, distant voice in her head whispered. He's killed me, without even meaning too. At least he won't get what he wants from me. No True Luna born heir for him, not today and not ever if Dani got Emery away from this Goddess-forsaken place. A sigh escaped from between Alice's lips. She was certain at least that she had done that right. She had distracted Lane for at least twenty minutes. Emery should be out of the house and hopefully they would have her safely away by now.

She heard Lane say something and then he grabbed her shoulders and was shaking her. One hand pressed down against the wound he'd made, before he bent low, pressing his mouth against the mark that wasn't anything like a mark, a second time, obviously hoping that his saliva would help speed her healing.

Alice closed her eyes, not sure if she'd open them again. Her left hand slipped up slowly over her head, sliding under the pillow, but Lane was too focused on trying to close up the wound that he didn't notice. And it appeared to be working. Maybe the Goddess heard his prayers, or maybe it just hadn't been her day to die. Maybe the abilities of the Beast that had been spilling over onto his human side included increased accelerated healing. A part of Alice's mind acknowledged that it was likely that she would never know.

As her hand closed around the hilt she said a quick prayer of her own to the Moon Goddess. Did her arm feel stronger, or was that just her imagination?

Bringing her arm down, Alice slipped the knife under the duvet, not letting go of the grip that she had on the handle. She needed to wait for the perfect moment to strike. She would only have one chance and if she missed it she knew she wouldn't get a second one. More than likely he would keep her chained up and breed her like an animal until she was knocked up and she didn't want to let her imagination go beyond that.

Alice's grip on the knife tightened. No, she wouldn't let her chance pass her by. One of them was going to die tonight, and she was going to do everything in her power to make sure that it was him.

"That was close, Alice. Maybe you aren't as strong as I thought." He slapped her cheek lightly, and Alice forced her eyes to flutter open, although she didn't try to hide the fear as she gazed up at him, her eyes drawn to the blood covering his mouth and chin. If he hadn't looked like a mad man before, he certainly did now.

"Maybe not. If you want to kick me to the curb and send me on my way, I won't be offended." She made to push herself up onto her elbows, as if she were getting up from the bed, but he shoved her back lightly, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh come on now, Alice. We both know you always liked it a little rough. Just because I went a little too far when I marked you doesn't mean I was trying to rip your throat out." His tone and the look in his eyes as he said the words did absolutely nothing to convince her that what he was saying was true, in fact, before he'd spoken she had thought that it was an accident. As she stared back into his eyes, doubts began to creep in from every direction, a chill sweeping through her body.

When she had walked through the door she had realized that the game she was playing was dangerous, but she'd thought it was worth it to save the people that she loved, and to help her pack. But now, looking into Alpha Cadman's eyes and feeling one long, razor sharp claw start at her collar bone and work its way down, slicing through her tank top and bra, she realized for a second time that she was in way over her head. The claw nicked her skin as it cut just a little too deep and she closed her eyes for a moment. That was just one more scar she would have to remember this night if she happened to make it out of this place alive.

Forcing her eyes open, Alice stared up at Lane's blue eyes. A month ago Lane had changed from the man he had been a year earlier, but there had still been a man there when she looked into his eyes. When they were cooking dinner together in his kitchen and he swung her around in his arms and held her close to his chest, she felt safe and loved. The thing that stared back at her now was not the same being as the man that she had known.

In a way it made what she was going to have to do easier.

"I hope you are strong. Otherwise, you might not survive this tonight, and live to become the mother of my pups. And that would be a shame. But I'm tired of being gentle with these fragile She-Wolves. Not one of them has been worthy of me. If you survive tonight, maybe I'll reconsider what happens next." Lane's eyes flickered to her face and Alice realized that they were glowing red again, although the rest of his body was still in human form as his hands went down, tugging at the buckle of her belt.

Now. She wasn't sure where the voice in her head came from, but she heard it with such clarity that it was almost as if someone was in the room standing next to her, speaking into her ear. As he broke the belt buckle in his impatience to get her pants off, Alice gripped the knife, bringing it out from under the covers and moving with as much speed as she was able.

Alpha Cadman was so focused on undressing her that he'd hardly looked up when she began to move. He'd expected her to fight and thrash a bit when he stripped off her pants. That was part of the fun, he'd told himself. And that was why he was so focused on exposing each new inch of her flesh, bringing her pants down around her hips, that he didn't see the arch of the blade as she brought it up, shoving it with all her strength as she drove the blade up, under his ribs.

"Bitch!" he roared the words as the razor sharp silver blade sliced under his ribcage, coming dangerously close to his heart, blood pouring down on Alice as he backhanded her, almost without thinking. Her head snapped back, slamming into the headboard, but still she didn't let go of the damned knife, holding onto it as if it were a lifeline. Grabbing hold of her hands he ripped it out of the wound she'd created, surprised for a moment when the bleeding didn't stop immediately.

He'd forgotten what it was like to be wounded in his human form. He'd been spending less and less time in it lately and it had been such a long time since it happened. But he'd underestimated Alice. As he reached for a blanket to staunch the flow of blood, she pushed herself up from where he'd slammed her backwards against the headboard, slashing at him again with the knife.

Alice managed to get in three good swipes before he dropped the blanket and threw her across the room, surprise holding him place for far longer than either of them had expected. She hit the wall with a dull thud, but didn't make any other sound as she slipped down to the floor.

Fuck he was bleeding out. That wasn't supposed to happen to someone like him. Leaning forward he grabbed hold of the covers on the bed.

Even he knew there was very little humanity left inside of him. If he shifted part way again, so soon after staying a Beast for so long, he might never find his way back. But it looked like he didn't have much choice. The Beast he'd found in between was stronger and faster and yes, it even healed more quickly than either he or his wolf could. As he heard a growl from outside the door he shifted, pulling himself back short of transforming entirely as the door exploded inward and he turned to see who had come to challenge him.

A/N- I hope you are enjoying this story! If you are I'd love it if you'd comment and click that little star button to vote for it.

This is Chapter 56 and I will continue posting weekly updates here until the entire novel is finished. You can now read the entire novel, all sixty chapters, on Patreon! And for those of you who want more stories, long and short, right this second and who want to read Patreon exclusive short stories, you may also want to check out the link below:

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